Good morning, everyone! Hope your week is going well. I’ve had a trying week but stitching seems to be my therapy. After a few minutes at the machine or doing some handwork and I feel so much better. Well, now that we’re on the subject of stitching, here’s some “new” patterns now in the GoofingOff Sewing Etsy shop that I think you will like.

You can have so much fun with this skirt! Different fabrics, colors, designs….and summer is the time for fun!

Do any of y’all remember the show “Julia.” Diahann Carroll broke barriers back then by having the starring role in the show. Beautiful, talented lady. Oh, the blouse. The blouse is a pullover with a jabot….and it’s a 16. Yippee!

Oh, what fun! Great for fall but still good if you are summering up in the north woods.

OK, that’s all I’m going to show you now. Go check out the store. There’s more listed. I have much more to list, too. Remember to use the coupon code BLOGGED and get 10% off your purchase……and stop at the shop this weekend for our Flash Sale.

These would be a wonderful shower gift. Use the appliqué or fussy cut a cute pic from fabric and make something unique and ecologically sound. One less diaper for the landfill…or a cute diaper cover for a trip out of the house.

Simple dresses were sleeveless or with raglan sleeves. Princess lines and back zippers. The full skirts of the 50’s and early 60’s are replaced with straight skirts for dress, a-line for a casual look. Pants are still straight legged and shorts are starting to get shorter. Shoes had pointy toes….the chunky look had yet to make its debut. Easy to Make/Easy to wear drawstring dresses are in order for a sweet mother-daughter look.

These patterns were available for 50 cents through mail order.

Use the coupon code BLOGGIN to get a 15% discount at the GoofingOff Etsy shop.

It was a very rainy morning, my day off sandwiched between work days….Lots to do but never too much that I can’t list a few patterns. The rain inspired me to make soup…2 pots (tonight and later this week), get laundry done (just have to iron my scrubs…yes, iron..with my 1950’s old fashioned iron), and pack weekend purchases. Now it’s coffee time and a chance to show off the latest listings.

So, that’s it for now. There’s more coming….. I have a stack….serious stack…..of stuffed animal patterns from the 80’s, all uncut. There’s a Christmas in July Pattern Sale coming real soon and all the crafty patterns….dolls, doll clothes, and animals and the like will be 40% off….Like Cabbage Patch and Berenstain Bears. Watch for it and grab your favorites for holiday sewing.
Don’t forget to use the coupon code BLOGGIN to get the 15% discount ….exclusive to the blog.

The 1980’s….shoulders got big, then bigger, hair was curly and big. We wore loose fitting shirts with big, extended shoulders and tight, straight skirts and pants. For the first time in my life my curly hair was in fashion and there was no need to try to tame it. Sigh.

Well, enough about me…..this is glimpse into the world of fashion in the 1980’s. Both designers, Oleg Cassini and Kasper, were well-known designers of their time.

Oleg Cassini was a fashion designer of international fame who designed Jackie Kennedy’s ensemble for President Kennedy’s Inauguration. Cassini is credited designs such as the sheath, the A-line, the little white collar dress, the knit, the military look for women, and later, the Nehru jacket.

The dress seen here is classic 1985, extended shoulders, deep armholes, funnel neck, and top stitching. The straight lines lend a geometric feel to the design….classic Cassini.

Herbert Kasper, known in the fashion industry as Kasper, is an award winning designer who made inexpensive clothes look exquisite and expensive. From 1966-1985 he was the head designer for Leslie Fay Co., Inc. His clothes were described as being feminine and sexy.

One of the benefits of selling patterns is the things that come with them. People who sew are a little bit pack rat. They save newspaper clippings, magazine articles, swatches of fabric, and old patterns that struck their fancy. One woman called her mom a “Wanna-do.” “She wanted to do lots of things but never had the time so she kept the stuff…just in case she found the time” she said.

In one of the Wanna do’s pattern boxes I found an magazine clipping from “This Week”, a magazine that arrived on Sunday mornings with the newspaper. This clipping was about Patti Page’s Magic Dress. Patti Page was a popular singing star (How Much is That Doggy in the Window) and had her own TV show on ABC in 1960-1962. The dress was designed by Joseph Fretwell III, her designer (he went on to do costume design for the Exorcist and the French Connection). The dress was described as “Anywhere—Anytime Dress. According to Joan Rattner, Mr. Fretwell “came up with the idea of the basic dress with added parts…….you’ll welcome this interesting way to look different as well as pretty from morning to late evening with only one dress.”

The Dress that has everything.

Part No. 1: The dress is a “slim, flattering sheath with a scooped neck and slim belt.” One is advised to “make it in a firm fabric with contrasting textured trim.

“Part No. 2: A luxuriously full overskirt, belted over the dress and open down the front. ”

“Part No.3: A matching easy-fitting jacket finished off with a shaped band just short of the hip bone.”

“Part No.4: A filmy trapeze worn over the dress for evening. Made very full, its light chiffon folds are belted in front.”

The pattern cost $1.50 and was available through the magazine using the “coupon on page 14 …..that makes you eligible for entering a $1000 teen-age sewing contest.

Anywhere—Anytime dress

Alas, the coupon is long gone and the dates were carefully cut from the clipping. Despite this, it is still a treasure to enjoy.

Don’t forget to use the coupon code BLOGGIN to get 15% off your purchase from GoofingOff Sewing

at Etsy. The code is exclusive to blog readers so feel special….because you are.